Dancer resting her chin on a finger
The prototype of this statue, in which the figure is missing her head, arms and feet, can indubitably be considered the Dancer resting her chin on a finger or Manzoni dancer (after Domenico Manzoni, who commissioned it from Antonio Canova in 1811 for 4,400 scudi).
Many other reproductions of it exist and the plaster model, made by Canova in 1809, from which various sculptures were derived, can still be seen in the Gipsoteca di Possagno.
We know for certain that Alessandro Torlonia had a copy of Canova’s Dancer made by Luigi Bienaimé (1795-1878, school of Thorvaldsen), which is now in the Galleria Nazionale d’Arte Moderna in Rome.
The example displayed is of good and accurate quality, but appears unfinished, probably due to damage caused by exposure to the air.
Masterpieces of the hall
The hall
On the same side, the next room is the Library.
This only conserves the ceiling decorations with a panel painted by Pietro Paoletti of Dante led into Limbo by Virgil to meet the great poets of antiquity.
